Browsing by Subject "Minority"
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Item Considering the disparate impact of test-based retention policy on low-income, minority, and English language learner children in Texas(2011-12) Patrick, Ertha Smith; Vasquez Heilig, Julian; Butler, Shari; Reddick, Richard; Rhodes, Lodis; Reyes, PedroThis dissertation evaluates disparate impact of test-based retention (TBR) policy on historically disadvantaged student groups in the State of Texas, and determines school characteristics that statistically predict retention and may contribute to disparate impact. The research literature on TBR is limited, as most grade retention research precedes the increase in use of TBR policy across the United States. Based on descriptive analysis, there were considerable increases in retention rates for low-income, African American, Latino, and English Language Learner (ELL) children compared to their less-disadvantaged counterparts, after TBR was implemented. Using multiple regression analysis, schools with higher percentages of low-income students, ELL students, beginning teachers, and higher percentages of low-income students in their school district were found to have higher retention rates while schools with higher percentages of White students, White teachers, and Latino teachers were found to have lower retention rates. Additionally, school retention rates were found to vary according to accountability rating.Item Examining relationships between supportive resources and psychological well-being at a single-gender school(2014-05) Coffee, Katherine Learned; Steinhardt, MaryGuided by the positive youth development (PYD) framework and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this dissertation project involved the performance of two studies that were designed to explore the multifaceted aspects of personal and environmental sources of support, positive emotions, stress, depressive symptoms, and resilience. Examined in Study I was the question of whether one's positivity would differentiate levels of personal and environmental resources. Examined in Study II were the association, if any, between stress and resilience on depressive symptoms and whether resilience would exhibit a moderating effect of stress on depressive symptoms. Multivariate analysis of covariance and hierarchical multiple regression were used to test the different models in these studies. A sample of 510 students at an all-girl public middle and high school completed the survey (75% response rate). Results showed that (a) the different categories of positivity distinguished levels of personal and environmental resources, (b) stress had a significant positive direct effect on depressive symptoms, (c) resilience had a significant negative direct effect on depressive symptoms, and (d) the interaction between stress and resilience had a significant buffering effect on depressive symptoms. While adolescence is a challenging time in particular for girls, findings from the present study support PYD and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions as advantageous frameworks for developing empirically based interventions. Strategies that increase students' positive emotions in schools, which in turn broaden their thinking, coping, and social interactions, would be efficacious. Further, the results from Study II suggest that students with higher levels of resiliency were protected from the impact of stress, thus potentially explaining their lower scores for depressive symptoms compared to those students with lower levels of reported resilience. This supports the significant role of individual resiliency as a personal resource against depressive symptoms when experiencing higher levels of stress. Given the seriousness of declining psychological well-being in young girls as a major public health concern, coupled with the compounding effects later into life, programs that provide opportunities for young girls to cultivated resiliency will be, theoretically, highly effective.Item Factors Associated with Recruitment and Retention Rates of Minority Youth 4-H Members as Perceived by Adult Club Leaders and County Extension Agents in Texas(2012-12-05) Gonzales, Nicole 1989-According to enrollment data from the National 4-H Headquarters, minority participation in Texas 4-H clubs has declined over the past five years. This descriptive study measured the perceptions of 4-H adult leaders and county Extension agents about minority youth recruitment and retention in Texas 4-H clubs. An electronic survey was distributed to 168 adult leaders and 58 county Extension agents who have participated in 4-H for at least two years from clubs in 54 counties across Texas that are comprised of at least 50% minority youth members. The results from this study show slight differences in the demographic makeup and project areas that are chosen among the minority youth members. Statistically significant differences do exist between the perceptions of county Extension agents and 4-H adult club leaders. While the county Extension agents tend to focus more on the competition aspects of 4-H, adult club leaders are more concerned with the views and feelings of the youth members along with the relationships that are developed. It is important to acknowledge decline in minority retention rates and develop new techniques for recruitment to improve future enrollment for the sake of the organization and prospective minority youth throughout the state.Item Near Peer Advising: A Case Study of the Perceptions of Advisers' Preparedness(2013-04-11) Martinez, Roger RodriguezThis case study examines the National College Advising Corps advisers? perceptions of their preparedness to assist and encourage underrepresented and low-income students to matriculate to a postsecondary education. The methods utilized in this study were qualitative in nature. Four semistructured questions were asked of the 10 participants who were members of the National College Advising Corps (NCAC). Purposive sampling was utilized based on gender, ethnicity, and first-generation status and was reflective of the NCAC chapter?s demographics. The interviews were transcribed with codes and themes assigned to the participants? responses. Peer debriefing was utilized in validating the participants? responses, which provided insight on what preparation was effective and insight on ways to improve the preparation of advisers. The participants were actively involved in coaching and mentoring students. They spent the majority of their time assisting students in the functional tasks of completing admissions, financial aid, and scholarships applications. The preparation that they received prior to assisting students in their respective high schools was sufficient for the participants to accomplish their assigned duties. Learning while performing the functions of the adviser position was critical because the initial preparation could not cover all situations that the participants could encounter. Preparation for tasks outside the functional area was noted as being deficient at varying degrees. Once advisers started working in their assigned schools, they generally had issues with managing their time in light of the numerous tasks to be completed each day, asking other school staff members for assistance in preparing students for college, ensuring that they maintained a balance between work life and personal life, and navigating the relationships between the advisor and school staff. Knowing how to handle these issues was classified into the theme of professional development and was critical to the advisers? success. Having the right balance of functional preparation versus professional preparation can improve the participants? success in assisting and encouraging underrepresented and low-income students to matriculate to a postsecondary education.Item Negotiating divisions : a history of inequality In Monterey County, CA(2012-12) Lopez, Gabriella Michelle; Menchaca, Martha; Wade, MariaMonterey County is one of the most economically productive regions in California. With its geographical range enclosing prime environmental conditions for agriculture production, pine forests lining the Pacific shore, and the Monterey Bay, people have flocked to the region in search of opportunity. Since the Spanish colonial period to the present, the region has been home to a variety of immigrants and migrants from around the world; thus, social and cultural interactions between residents have shaped the political, economic, and social conditions of the communities in Monterey County throughout history. Furthermore, with the influx of Europeans and Anglo Americans in the early nineteenth century, colonial hegemonies, racial politics, and cultural ideologies influenced the ways by which dominant groups gained power and attempted to control the distribution of social resources throughout Monterey County. As a result, a long record of racial discrimination, marginalization, resistance, and community shifts are prominent throughout the community histories of the region. Today, cultural ideologies and racial hierarchies continue to permeate social relations in the region and influence the socioeconomic differences between the minority-dominated communities and the Anglo dominated communities in Monterey County. Latinos are currently the largest group of the region, making up 55.4 percent of the population while Anglos make up the next largest group at 32.9 percent of the population. The social divisions between Anglos and minorities shape the ongoing struggle for equality in a variety of spheres of community life in the region. The goal of this project is to contribute to the social history of racial and ethnic relations throughout Monterey County in California. Moreover, I hope to create a foundation for future ethnographic field-work concerning current race and ethnic relations and the construction of cultural ideologies in Monterey County. This historical analysis begins with the Spanish colonization of California in the late eighteenth century and continues into the late twentieth century; however, I focus on exploring the racial and ethnic discrimination that was launched after the Spanish conquest and later, augmented by the United States government after the conquest of California in 1848, and continued to increase as war, political ties, and civil rights movements affected the Monterey County communities (Chavez 2007). My focus on the deeply embedded intersecting processes of discrimination, segregation, and marginalization in Monterey County’s history of ethnic and race relations reveals the heavy impact this long history has had on the social conditions of minorities and ethnic relations in the region today.Item The Sikh Gurmat sangīt revival in post-partition India(2015-05) Li, Wai Chung, Ph. D.; Slawek, Stephen; Dell'Antonio, Andrew; Mathews, Gordon; Ali, Kamran; Moore, Robin; Erlmann, VeitGurmat sangīt, literally sacred music of the Sikhs, is a religious marker of Sikhism. Sikh religious practice is oriented toward musical performance to worship God and evoke spiritual elevation. As a common religious practice at the Sikh temples, gurmat sangīt generally involves recitation of religious texts and devotional singing with instrumental accompaniment by professional musicians and/or the congregation. It also illustrates musical ways of uniting with God as found in Sikh scriptures. The major sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains a large number of verses in an arrangement organized by rāgas (musical modes). Gurmat sangīt has developed rapidly since the 1980s. The number of recordings, publications, and performances featuring Sikh religious music and/or musicians increased. Academic programs and organizations of gurmat sangīt were launched to train both professional and amateur musicians in India and abroad. At that time, a trend has developed to revive the authentic practice of Sikh devotional music with correct rendition of rāga performance and the re-introduction of stringed instruments such as the tāūs (a bowed-string instrument in peacock body sound box) and rabāb (a plucked-lute instrument). While exhibiting a tendency to standardize musical details and generate a historiography of Sikh music, contemporary practitioners also emphasize authenticity and tradition in re-imagining the devotional music performance at the time of the Sikh Gurūs. The revival is identified with not only professional Sikh musicians in Punjab but also overseas Sikh musicians and musicians of other religious and/or socio-cultural backgrounds. In this study, I adopt the case study approach to examine the phenomenon of the gurmat sangīt revival in 20th- and 21st-century Punjab. My research focuses on the annual performances of Sikh devotional music, and a Sikh religious institution in the city of Ludhiana, from where the trend of the music revival has been developed. For the revival’s aim to promote the “authentic” Sikh devotional music tradition, I argue that it involves a self-interpretation of combined authentic, invented, and westernized concepts in association with musical practice at the Sikh Gurūs’ times and Indian classical music, and being shown in the standardization, classicization, and hybridization of Sikh devotional music performance.Item The relationship between minority statuses and prejudice(2009-06-02) Veve, MiaIt is important to explore prejudice to understand and learn how to decrease it. There is a central belief that ?personal knowledge reduces prejudice.? Does a person who has personal knowledge of prejudice, for example, those of minority status have less prejudice towards others? There has been considerable research on the prejudice that the majority might feel towards minorities but there is limited research on minorities? prejudice towards others. The current study focuses on the relationship between a person of self-perceived minority statuses and her or his feelings of prejudice towards others (e.g. minorities and mainstream). Previous research had found a positive correlation between fundamentalism and prejudice. This study investigated that relationship and a positive correlation was found. Another aspect that has been studied in previous research, dealing with prejudice and self reports, is social desirability. This study investigated the relationship between social desirability and multiple minority statuses and no statistical significance was found. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to investigate the relationship between multiple minority statuses and prejudice. The analysis showed no statistical significance on the relationship between multiple minority statuses and prejudice. There is still a lot about prejudice that remains unknown. This area of research should be investigated further to better understand minority prejudice, which in turn might lead us to overcome its negative effects.